Health organizations not prepared for new HIPAA rules

Grady Memorial hospital has always been a beacon of hope to those who can not afford health services from other hospitals. They are one of the only public hospitals in the area and are the only level one trauma clinic (serious trauma injuries) in the region. Needless to say the ECC (emergency room) is kept very busy. One important factor when working inside an ECC department is separating the emergent and non-emergent patients before the emergent ones get worse. The stable patents are sent to a fast track like clinic which caters to non life threatening cases. In Grady this is known as PACe. The project focuses on what business processes can be made more efficient to lower both the wait time and costs for the hospital and its patients. When looking at business processes and changes to them, it is important to consider HIPPA, and cost of implementation. It is expected that some of the changes offered will be feasible while others may not, given the economic environment. All recommendations are for demonstration purposes only and the group will not be held liable for misdiagnosis. This blog will focus on various problems within the PACe and offer solutions to the problems.

The article above focuses on how unprepared hospitals are when it comes to HIPPA. One main concern is with the implementation of EPIC like EMR systems. The article is quoted as saying, "2009 survey devote no more than 3 percent of their IT funding to security, about the same as last year". This statistic is scary because the project is both tedious and daunting. This shows the importance of the work that will be done and the conclusions that can be drawn from the results.

Works Cited:

Versel, Niel. "HIMSS: Health organizations not prepared for new HIPAA rules - FierceHealthIT." FierceHealthIT - Health IT, healthcare it news, health informatics. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2009. <http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/himss-health-organizations-not-prepared-new-hipaa-rules/2009-11-09#ixzz0WTWo96